The invention relates to thermal garments. More particularly, the invention relates to active thermal control garments, rather than passive garments that only provide insulation to contain the body heat of the user or to block ambient heat.
In many settings of daily life, in both work and recreational settings, a person will be subjected to excessive heat or cold. Exposure to heat and cold is common for those who work outside, and for some indoor, industrial environments. It is well-known to use insulating clothing to minimize body heat loss in a cold environment and to block high ambient temperature. It is also known to use an active, auxiliary heat source, such as an electric resistance heat insert for gloves and boots, for example.
There are also known some high technology environment suits that provide cooling as well as heating. Such garments are, however, often found in the context of a total environment suit that includes a separate thermal unit that is connected by hoses, or the like, with a thermal barrier and insulated thermal control garment. While this may be appropriate in space exploration or in some specialized terrestrial context, there remain a great number of situations in which a worker or sportsman is subjected to excessive heat or cold, in which the known high technology approach is simply impractical, and in which the know insulating approaches are inadequate.
Consider, for example, the great many settings in which construction workers labor in sweltering summer heat or in numbing winter cold. Active control of one's body temperature under these circumstances will minimize risks of hypothermia and hyperthermia, and will also enhance efficiency and effectiveness in performing the task at hand.
Thus, one will readily appreciate the desirability of a self contained, versatile thermal garment that a worker, or sportsman, may use to help keep warm or cool.